Alliance of International Production Houses

At home in Taiwan, artistic director and choreographer CHENG Tsung-Lung, along with the dancers, step out of the door of their own theatre and find themselves in the middle of nature. Their home base, Cloud Gate Theater, is hidden in the middle of a subtropical thicket on a hill on the outskirts of the megacity of Taipei, with a spectacular view over the Tamsui River.

This proximity and connection inspired CHENG and the world-famous Taiwanese dance company Cloud Gate to create the production “Sounding Light” in 2020. The sounds of the forest, the wind in the trees, the insects and birds, the sunlight refracted between the leaves – all of this is gradually recreated on stage in an impressive choreography. The 12 dancers provide most of the soundtrack as a natural element of their performance. While their movements imitate nature, birds or insects, their bodies become instruments: In collaboration with composers LIM Giong and CHANG Shiuan, they use voice and breath, finger snapping and hand clapping. In this way, the dancers acoustically and visually create the impression of a breeze or of falling rain and flowing water and dedicate themselves to the animals of the forest. In their concise, technically sophisticated and aesthetically impressive style, Cloud Gate creates a dance symbol for the connection with nature.